can`t wait to see watson in a offence that uses him better. I do not think its his problem when he is not thrown to for 6-7 weeks and then suddenly he question why he drops a catch when called upon to suddenly run patterns.

I am a believer if you use him every game for 2-3 catches he will be better.He is better blocker then witten,gates who never play the wham blocks and leading gap A/B penerating TE plays and he is very fast to both.

But you can not always blame players for things not working out, can you? That's why you have so little talent left.

Not saying David Thomas talent level is this or that. But I have seen too many talented players leaving here being called malcontent, Ty Law, Dion Branch, Seymour, Samuel, Vrable, Hobbs, Woody, Adam Vinetari, Adlias Thomas (about to), and even Wilfork (if he holds out or leaves). Why we never hear of Indy having malcontent stars, why are Freeney or Mathias, or Reggie Wayne, or Marvin Harrison happy and why do they play hard after signing big fat contracts? Maybe we should learn something about how to treat and motivate people.

Thomas had plenty of chances and never put it together here. 1 more season here probably wouldn't have changed that. NO is a better fit for him, that's all there is to it.

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Thomas is one of the few players that seems to have improved in the eyes of Patriots fans since his departure. I'm sure that says a lot more about people's perception of Watson and Baker than it does about Thomas.

That really won't prove anything vis-a-vis the Thomas trade. Watson was clearly the team's choice from between the two, and for good reason, since he's a much better player.

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If the Patriots do not re-sign Watson, the Patriots essentially will be down to one tight end on the roster entering free agency and the 2010 NFL Draft. The Derrick Burgess trades looks worse and worse considering the Patriots will need those third and fifth round draft picks this year.

If the Patriots do not re-sign Watson, the Patriots essentially will be down to one tight end on the roster entering free agency and the 2010 NFL Draft. The Derrick Burgess trades looks worse and worse considering the Patriots will need those third and fifth round draft picks this year.

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The Burgess trade was a screw up from the beginning, regardless of what happens with Watson. I hated it when it happened, and I hated it all season. However, Burgess was worth a 5th round pick in trade, meaning that you're really only talking about the 3rd round portion being wasted.

And, if the difference between the Patriots winning and losing next season is a 3rd round pick, then Belichick should certainly be able to pick one up in the draft. If there's an area where I've still got pretty near complete confidence in Belichick, it's his ability to maneuver for picks. I may, or may not, like the moves, but he consistently is able to find trading partners, and that's a skill of its own.

This is an information asymetry. Coaches will always know more than we do. So I am trusting the expert eyes of Sean Payton... he is comfortable using david thomas to play important roles in his offense. He seems to be very good at using of his personel. This whole thomas thing, it's a one year thing, maybe there is more to it. We shall see.

Thomas is one of the few players that seems to have improved in the eyes of Patriots fans since his departure. I'm sure that says a lot more about people's perception of Watson and Baker than it does about Thomas.

He was constantly hurt, dropped numerous easy balls, committed a number of idiotic penalties and quite frankly,played his way off the team. Hindsight is great...like the Giants giving up on Shockey..which BTW was a far more important acquisition for the Saints than Dave Thomas...kill THAT too.

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Greetings,
That sums up exactly how I feel about it as well. I also notice those mistakes happened mainly at critical times that costs close games for NE. As for saying the homers are bashing him just because he left NE is fairly inaccurate, we saw him for what he was: a mistake player.
Shalom,
Celticboy04

It may seem bizarre to you, but Watson is a much better all around TE than Thomas and Baker is a much better blocking TE and redzone threat than Thomas. Thomas would have been inactive in almost every game if he were on the patriot roster.

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You're right about Baker, but not about Watson, who has poor hands for receiving.

I'm no longer interested in speculating what he can be when looking at his superb strength, speed, and size. He doesn't produce enough. Passes bounce off his hands. That's the name of the game for receivers, hands.

Thomas is just a better football player who happens to be not as fast or strong. It happens.

BTW, another trade that worked against us--very similar to the Thomas one--is our trade of all-purpose Russ Hochstein to the Broncos for a low draft pick. He started for them all season until he hurt his knee in game 15 against the Redskins.

I'm really into players who play up to their talent and don't ***** in the locker room. To me that's Hochstein and Thomas, poster children for just that.

Troy Brown and C. Fauria spoke about the TE position in New England right after Welker went down. They said its not a position that has been the focus since the Ben Coates days. Guys like Watson are better off going to other teams if they want to pad their stats and become part of the main offense. I just don't see how Thomas would have factored in given how little Baker and Watson were used. Perhaps if this team were to get a beast in the mold of Gates or Witten they would change their philosophy or scheme.

He was constantly hurt, dropped numerous easy balls, committed a number of idiotic penalties and quite frankly,played his way off the team. Hindsight is great...like the Giants giving up on Shockey..which BTW was a far more important acquisition for the Saints than Dave Thomas...kill THAT too.

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He definitely had durability issues and that penatly against Indy in 2008 was a killer but I don't recall him ever have problems catching the ball. I was always impressed with his hands. He didn't have many opportunities but always caught the ball when it came his way.

Trading Thomas for a lowly 7th rounder was the first of what turned out to be many, many questionable calls made by BB this year. I love BB as much as anyone, but this just wasn't his year. Perhaps there's truth to the rumors that Sara Palin had her witch-doctor curse Massachusetts.

You're right about Baker, but not about Watson, who has poor hands for receiving.

I'm no longer interested in speculating what he can be when looking at his superb strength, speed, and size. He doesn't produce enough. Passes bounce off his hands. That's the name of the game for receivers, hands.

Thomas is just a better football player who happens to be not as fast or strong. It happens.

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I disagree thomas dropped his share of balls too and then they just stopped throwing to him. Again as i said he is better in NO as he is part of the offence and every game he gets thrown to and catches balls. Its like when wes comes back he will not have the hands for a few weeks.You cannot NOT throw to some guy for weeks and then suddenly ask him to have a breakout game.
Watson single handly won the bills game this year then they shut him down for 6 weeks and again start throwing to him.It will never work.Passing offence is timing dependent and you cannot shut it down and start it again.Look at the colts game the timing is so off.

Troy Brown and C. Fauria spoke about the TE position in New England right after Welker went down. They said its not a position that has been the focus since the Ben Coates days. Guys like Watson are better off going to other teams if they want to pad their stats and become part of the main offense.

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Yet they've spent two first round picks on the position. Talk about a disconnect.

This is precisely what the Patriots need to straighten up. Fill the positions and roles they will emphasize and/or adjust the game plan for unique talents, or positions that have less versatile talents. Design coherent ideas of what we plan to accomplish on offense and defense and adjust the game plans accordingly. Save the fancy stuff until we efficiently do that.

How can that be done? See 2001. Half the roster filled with castoffs and a second year 6th round qb and game plans adjusted to take advantage of our few strong areas (LBs and Ty Law).

Not to live in the past, but we could have groomed some blocking tight ends that could catch 20 balls and had two #1 picks to spend elsewhere.

In New Orleans David Thomas has become the jack of all trades. They line him at FB,TE, H-Back and even at WR. He made several big catches on 3rd down and he even moved to FB when the Saints had injuries and did a good job.